Atomfall – the seudo-apocalyptic survival game set in 1950s rural England – was “immediately profitable” for developer Rebellion, and now talks of a sequel are already afoot.
Atomfall released back in March across PC, PlayStation and Xbox. It was also available on both Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass, likely bolstering its popularity. Speaking to Eurogamer’s sister site GamesIndustry.biz last month, Rebellion head Jason Kingsley noted that much of Atomfall’s success could be attributed to its release on Game Pass, stating it “does mitigate risk” and guarantees “a certain level of income” for a studio.
But, even though it was indeed available to play via Xbox’s subscription service, of course meaning players did not have to buy the game outright if they already had Game Pass, Atomfall still made back its development costs more or less straight off the (cricket) bat.
This nugget comes from Rebellion head Jason Kingsley, who sat down with The Game Business to reflect on the launch of Atomfall and the industry in general.
During this chat, the studio affirmed the studio has DLC for Atomfall planned, but also that the idea of a sequel or a spin-off has already been floated, saying Rebellion of course wants to “keep on making games” in the future.
Looking ahead, Rebellion wants to “continue to make more good games,” Kingsley said. “We’ve now got the challenge of a massive new success in Atomfall. What do we do in the future with Atomfall? Well… we’ve got DLC coming up,” he continued before adding: “We’re talking about what do we do about sequels? Do we do spin-offs?”
So, is a sequel something you would like to see for Atomfall?
Atomfall was Rebellion’s “most successful launch” ever, and soon after it was released the studio celebrated 1.5 million players joining in the oh so rather British fun. At this time, the studio revealed we had managed to devour 4m pasties, and savour 300,000 cups of tea in the game, though those numbers are likely even higher now.
If you haven’t played Atomfall for yourself yet, but are curious about it all, you can check out our review. “If you can get over a difficult start and fancy a lean take on the survival genre, Atomfall delivers an intriguing tale worth discovering,” our Tom wrote, awarding the game three Eurogamer stars.